"The US telecoms giant is expected to merge Yahoo with AOL, to create a digital group capable of taking on the likes of Google and Facebook."

Can someone explain how combining two "past their prime" entities like Yahoo and AOL, with the Verizon telecom bureaucracy is going to produce anything "capable of taking on the likes of Google and Facebook"?

Telecom companies have a pretty horrible culture. It is not one of innovation or agility. They are bloated bureaucracies based on tenure and not merit. I speak from experience. To give one small example I have have been on conference bridges where Verizon project managers fell asleep and began snoring. I have many more of such anecdotes with these folks. All similarly illustrative of the culture.